K-State Athletics has been named the NCAA 'Pack the House' Big 12 Conference winner for the second straight season following a sellout crowd February 4 in Bramlage Coliseum. K-State is one of 33 winners in the NCAA Division I challenge in an announcement made by the NCAA.

K-State's 'Pack the House' contest was February 4 when the Wildcats hosted undefeated, and eventual national champion, Baylor. The 12,528 fans was a season-high in Bramlage Coliseum and was the highest attended women's basketball game in Bramlage Coliseum since March 31, 2006, when K-State hosted the WNIT Final in front of a sell-out crowd of 13,340. The 2012 sell out was the ninth-largest crowd to view a women's basketball game since Bramlage Coliseum opened in 1988 and the 15th largest crowd to witness a home game in the program's 44-year history.

This season's "Pack the House" promotion included $1 tickets, $1 concession items, a halftime performance by the Zooperstars!, and special guests from the First Sustainment Brigade, the Fort Riley partnership unit of K-State women's basketball.

"We are so proud and appreciative of our tremendous K-State fans for leading the Big 12 in the 2012 "Pack the House" initiative," said head coach Deb Patterson of the sellout crowd in Bramlage. "The K-State faithful and our excellent fan experience staff create an environment in Bramlage that elevates the emotion, energy and intensity for our players and that always makes for great fun for families and fans of all types."

Kansas State finished the season ranked 24th in the nation in average attendance with 4,069 fans per game. It is the fourth straight season and the ninth time in the last 11 seasons that K-State has finished among the top-25 in average attendance.

"Pack the House" is a national effort in which conferences and institutions compete to build attendance. NCAA Division I women's basketball marketing staffs selected a home game and designated that date as a "Pack the House" game with the goal of setting an attendance record. One winner from each of the 32 conferences and one from a group of independent institutions were named. Selections were based on marketing plan creativity and attendance criteria.

As winners of the "Pack the House" challenge, the NCAA awarded a donation of $500 to the nonprofit organization of K-State's choice, which the USO at Fort Riley. The USO is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization whose mission is to lift the spirits of troops and their families by providing morale, welfare and recreation-type services and support. This donation will support USO center operations, which assists more than 3,500 troops and families a month.

"In the fifth year of this initiative, we are pleased to see the continued increase in attendance, excitement and exposure for our women's basketball programs," said Greg Christopher, chair of the Division I Women's Basketball Committee and director of athletics at Bowling Green State University. "The year-in and year-out success of Pack the House is a direct tribute to the commitment level put forth by the personnel at each campus. These efforts continue to help grow the game."